Geometry of integral polynomials, M-ideals and unique norm preserving extensions

We use the Aron–Berner extension to prove that the set of extreme points of the unit ball of the space of integral k-homogeneous polynomials over a real Banach space X is {±φk: φ ∈ X∗, φ = 1}. With this description we show that, for real Banach spaces X and Y, if X is a nontrivial M-ideal in Y, then k,s εk,s X (the k-th symmetric tensor product of X endowed with the injective symmetric tensor norm) is never an M-ideal in k,s εk,s Y . This result marks up a difference with the behavior of nonsymmetric tensors since, when X is an M-ideal in Y , it is known that k εk X (the k-th tensor product of X endowed with the injective tensor norm) is an M-ideal in k εk Y . Nevertheless, if X is also Asplund, we prove that every integral k-homogeneous polynomial in X has a unique extension to Y that preserves the integral norm. Other applications to the metric and isomorphic theory of symmetric tensor products and polynomial ideals are also given.